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Saturday, 19 August 2017

An artist's statement (or artist statement) is an artist's written description of their work. The brief verbal representation is for, and in support of, his or her own work to give the viewer understanding. As such it aims to inform, connect with an art context, and present the basis for the work; it is therefore didactic, descriptive, or reflective in nature. (Wikipedia).

Puh-leeeeeze!!!!!

This is something that’s been bugging me for years. YEARS I tell you!

Why is it that visual artists are required to write an “artist's statement” whereas writers are not required to draw a picture of their story? Tell me that!

There are writers who specialize in composing artist’s statements because often, and this may surprise you, artists are NOT writers!

•firemen are not dentists

•tax lawyers are not exterminators

•nuclear technicians are not plumbers

•hotel managers are not.......

Well you get the idea.

I'm getting back into my art work again.....slowly.....but it's coming. I may not do the same things I've done in the past, so I'll need a new artist's statement.

Keywords Words and Phrases to Remember:

Inspiration (naturally)

Green and/or Environment (I'll work it in somehow)

Delicacy and/or strength

Elusive

Distraction of the conspicuous (I just stole this off another site)

For all you artists out there who have't discovered this site, take a look! I'm wild about it!

Tuesday, 7 March 2017

I was going to stop posting. Take a year
off...you know....do other things. But then I said to myself "Self.....you'd better write down some of the things that are on your mind and make room in your head for more important matters". So, here I am.

It’s probably just me. (Is it? Is it just
me)? Today I wanted some information so naturally I turned to my friend
Mr. Google. With not much time to spare I was very specific in my request:

“French authors, Balzac, Zola”

Now you’d think the only things that would come up are …..Balzac …..and...... Zola. But no. There, listed before my favourite
authors, were ads that had nothing to do with literature -

That’s not
right is it? Google also recommended I check out Stendhal but I have no
interest in him. Considering Google knows everything from my shoe size
to my tax records, it's quite a major boo-boo not to already know this. Now I ask
you, what does Balzac have to do with coffee or Zola, weddings?
Nothing! I'm sure they're very good products, but........

Once information is fed into my brain I can't just leave it at
that. To torture myself further, I just had to know what was going on
with other famous French authors. For some reason Proust and Flaubert
seem to be safe. I’m guessing it’s pronunciation that’s keeping them off the
shelves, but I could be wrong. Proust’s Prunes…..no, I can see where that
would be a problem.

It's not only the French literary giants that have their names taken in
vain. If you think Shakespeare escaped modern day
advertising, you'd be mistaken. Did Shakespeare fish? I wonder why
they chose his name instead of, say, off the top of my head, some famous
fishing type person?

Maybe I should just start going back to the library for info. No, I'm too lazy.

Saturday, 10 December 2016

We had
a short stay in Paris recently and naturally our goal was to visit as many
favourite areas as possible.For us this
includes the 5th arrondissement, with its many galleries, cafés and bookshops.As we
walked along rue du Petit Pont, we saw a painting displayed in the window of
Galerie Hélène Nougaro that absolutely drew us in.The piece was by artist Olivier Legrand, and,
as luck would have it, the artist was in the gallery at the time.

Olivier Legrand

Olivier is a very likeable man who spoke
enthusiastically about his work. He’s an artistic treat for those of us who love to explore inspiration and hear about technique involved (his colours are amazing). To me the images are quietly soothing, and I'd love to see more.Thank you Olivier for sharing your vision!

I wish we had been in Paris a few weeks earlier as the exhibition was about to end when we were there.So, this is not a “What to See” type post,
but more of a “What we Saw” and a recommendation to watch for this artist. If you have the opportunity to see his work, do it!

Thursday, 11 August 2016

“A Heat Warning is issued when the humidex value is expected to reach 40 degrees C
or more or when the temperature is expected to reach levels ranging from 29
degrees C to 40 degrees C or greater
depending on location.”

I guess in places like Cairo the temps would have to be higher. I'm not sure because to me, hot is hot. Anyway, this ‘location’ has had enough!

I bought a chocolate bar at lunch today and
it melted before I could get the wrapper off.So, I stuffed the goo into my mouth anyway because, after all, it was
chocolate, and mine.It was no pleasure
dodging traffic and gulping it down before the whole thing turned to liquid and ran down my shirt.

I don't get this love of heat. Yes, if you camp, love those outdoor activities like swimming, golf and whatever else people do, but for me it's just a few months of sweaty commuters trying not to faint on the bus.

In autumn and winter I
can throw on an extra sweater but really, I can’t shed skin.(Oh, as an aside, there are disgusting videos on
YouTube of crabs molting if you’re interested.This 'crab' wanted to put a photo of a shedding Crustacean in her post but I’m too hot to stay in front of the computer.)

It’s cooler in Paris and Nice so that’s really something I
have to consider. Maybe I could get some sort of medical leave to go to cooler climes. Yes, either would do just fine.

Hot temperatures aren't new to Montréal. Every summer we have a hot spell and near "record breaking temperatures". The only difference is now we have blogs and can complain to a wider audience.

September
is around the corner and I'm looking forward to colorful leaves, cool
air, getting back to art work and blogging. But for now, I guess I'm
just going to shower, have a very cold beer, shower, have something to
eat, shower, watch some TV, shower, brush my teeth, and maybe have a shower.